Letters: Police and an unarmed shooting

Updated 8:09 pm, Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Regarding "HPD officer kills man in wheelchair" (Page B1, Sunday), Saturday morning a Houston cop fatally shot a man in a wheelchair who was apparently waving something in his hand.Really?

I try not to second guess cops, but come on: The man is in a wheelchair. He's waving something, even something dangerous like a club or a knife, so you shoot him in the head?

There were two officers present, presumably equipped with nightsticks - you back up a step out of the guy's range and use the nightstick on his arm. Or a tactical baton, Taser, or even the big flashlight. Are the police so poorly trained that the only response they have now is to pull a gun?

I'm sure they'll trot out the old "the officer was in fear for his life" excuse. There will be an inquiry. Either he will be exonerated on the spot or put on paid administrative leave. Maybe he'll be suspended until the appeals board reinstates him with back pay after a vacation.

The Houston Police Department has officers with advanced training to identify and manage conflicts dealing with mentally ill persons.

It's part of the Crisis Intervention Response Team program.

The CIRT program has a database that allows dispatchers to notify responding patrol officers in real time if a location has a history of problems with mentally ill persons. And when possible, CIRT-trained officers are supposed to take control of the situation.

This was a group home with mentally ill residents, officers evidently had been there before, and they'd had contact with the individual who was shot and killed.

We should examine whether CIRT officers were called to the scene and whether the responding officers were told the situation might immediately become deadly.